Former IBM exec sues IBM, AT&T over hidden data breaches

A former senior cybersecurity executive at IBM has filed a lawsuit accusing the technology company and telecommunications firm AT&T of concealing major data breaches from the U.S. government. The complaint, filed by William Barlow, IBM's former vice president of threat intelligence, alleges foreign hackers repeatedly infiltrated sensitive government cloud systems over several years.

The lawsuit, which was filed under seal in 2020 and unsealed this week, centers on a cloud computing system known as the Core Network. This infrastructure, operated by AT&T on behalf of IBM, is widely used by the U.S. military and other federal agencies. Barlow alleges that foreign state actors, including hackers linked to China, breached this network multiple times between 2013 and 2016. He claims IBM and AT&T failed to disclose these incidents to government regulators and clients, instead providing false assurances about system security to maintain federal contracts.

In a statement, an IBM spokesperson said, "This complaint was filed six years ago, and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to intervene. IBM is confident that our actions followed the letter of the law." Representatives for AT&T...